Ii Naosuke - backup

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http://darumapedia-persons.blogspot.jp/2016/02/ii-naosuke-sakuradamon.html
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Ii Naosuke 井伊直弼
(November 29, 1815 – March 24, 1860)



- quote
A daimyo of Hikone (1850–1860) and also Tairō of Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858 until his death on March 24, 1860. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and extraterritoriality to American citizens. He was also an enthusiastic and accomplished practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony, in the Sekishūryū style, and his writings include at least two works on the tea ceremony.

Under Ii Naosuke’s guidance, the Tokugawa shogunate navigated past a particularly difficult conflict over the succession to the ailing and childless Tokugawa Iesada. Ii Naosuke managed to coerce the Tokugawa Shogunate to its last brief resurgence of its power and position in Japanese society before the start of the Meiji period. Ii was assassinated in the Sakuradamon incident by a group of 17 Mito and 1 Satsuma samurai on March 24, 1860.


Edo Castle's Sakurada Gate – photographed by Felix Beato, 1863–1870.

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- - - - - Tairō
In 1858 after Hotta Masayoshi’s disastrous attempt to obtain the emperor’s approval for the Harris treaty the Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Iesada (徳川家定), chose Ii Naosuke to be the Tairō (Great Elder); a decision influenced by the Kii Party. The position of Tairō, a post traditionally held by members of the Ii family, was rarely filled; in fact there had only been three Tairō between 1700 and Ii Naosuke’s rise to power 158 years later. Ii’s promotion to the post of Tairō annoyed many of the shinpan daimyo (daimyo related to the Shogun, they were unable to be members of the bakufu, but in the event of the Shogun dying heirless the next Shogun would be chosen from one of the shinpan families) including Tokugawa Nariaki. As the Tairō Ii Naosuke had both prestige and power second only to the Shogun; Ii also enjoyed the full backing of the Fudai daimyo. An intelligent and capable politician Ii Naosuke was determined to restore the power of the bakufu in Japanese policy making, both in a domestic and a foreign role.
- snip -
- - - - - Kōbu gattai and the Kazunomiya marriage 公武合体
Kōbu Gattai is the policy of binding Kyoto and Edo closer together to shore up the failing shogunate with the prestige of the imperial court. This policy was to be carried out by means of a marriage between the Shogun and the Emperor’s younger sister, Princess Kazunomiya.
- snip -
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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The daimyo of Hikone Ii Naosuke　井伊直弼　had meat from Omi cows 　近江牛　prepared as misozuke, pickled in miso paste, and send it to Edo to the Tokugawa Shogun, especially also to Nariaki of Mito　水戸斉昭.
Nariaki even wrote a letter to thank for the meat.


徳川斉昭書状別紙, 嘉永元年（1848年）12月
（彦根城博物館蔵）

The beef from Hikone was also dried in the cold 「寒」の干牛肉 during the coldest month of January and then eaten as "medicine".
When Ii Naosuke was killed in the Sakuradamon incident on March 24, 1860, by a group of samurai from Mito, the shipments to Mito Tokugawa Nariaki stopped and Nariaki was quite unhappy about this turn of events.

. Eating Meat in Edo .

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Sakurada Mon 桜田門 lit. Gate of the Field of Cherry Trees


source : 桜田門外の変」を歩く

Sakurada mon is Nr. 10

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. Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水 (1883 - 1957) .


Sakurada Gate



Sakurada Gate in Spring Rain


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The Sakuradamon Incident 桜田門外の変 Sakuradamon-gai no Hen
桜田門の変 Sakuradamon no Hen

- quote -
the assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke (1815–1860) on 24 March 1860 by rōnin samurai of the Mito Domain, outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle.

The assassination took place outside the Shogun's Edo Castle in Edo (modern Tokyo), just as Ii Naosuke was reaching the premises. Ii Naosuke had been warned about his safety, and many encouraged him to retire from office, but he refused, replying that "My own safety is nothing when I see the danger threatening the future of the country".



A total of 17 Mito rōnin ambushed Ii Naosuke together with Arimura Jisaemon (有村次左衛門), a samurai from Satsuma Domain. While an attack at the front drew the attention of the guards, a lone assassin fired one shot into the palanquin containing Ii Naosuke, with a Japanese-made Colt 1851 Navy Revolver, which had been copied from the firearms that Perry had given the Shogunate as gifts. Drawing the injured and likely paralyzed Ii Naosuke out, Arimura decapitated Ii Naosuke and then committed seppuku.
Arimura Jisaemon, on the point of committing the assassination.

The conspirators carried a manifesto on themselves, outlining the reason for their act:
- snip -
- - - - - Consequences
The popular upheaval against foreign encroachment and assassination of Ii Naosuke forced the Bakufu to soften its stance, and to adopt a compromise policy of Kōbu Gattai ("Union of the Emperor and the Shogun") suggested by Satsuma Domain and Mito Domain, in which both parties vied for political supremacy in the years to follow. This soon amplified into the violent Sonnō Jōi ("Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians") movement.

For the following years until the fall of Bakufu in 1868, Edo, and more generally the streets of Japan, would remain notably hazardous for Bakufu officials (see attack on Andō Nobumasa) and foreigners alike (Richardson murder), as the Sonno Joi movement continued to expand. According to Sir Ernest Satow: "A bloody revenge was taken on the individual [Ii Naosuke], but the hostility to the system only increased with time, and in the end brought about its complete ruin".

The conflict reached its resolution with the military defeat of the Shogunate in the Boshin war, and the installation of the Meiji restoration in 1868.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !




source : d4.dion.ne.jp/~ponskp/bakumatsu

On the famous painting of the incident, you can see some normal Samurai without shoes.
It was winter and a rare snowfall of about 20 cm kept the rather unprotected palanquin bearers and accompanying samurai cold. So many of the 60 people in the procession, who were only hired for the job, did not protect Naosuke but just run away when they heard the shots.
(Some sources quote one shot, others quote two or more.)

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春寒料峭井伊直弼に手を合はす
shunkan ryooshoo Ii Naosuke ni te o awasu

very cold spring day -
I fold my hands
for Ii Naosuke

Kawasaki Tenkoo 川崎展宏 Kawasaki Tenko (1927 - 2009)

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鳥帰る桜田門を掃き終り
斉藤夏風


浮寝鳥桜田門の日向かな
瀧井孝作




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- Reference - Japanese 桜田門の変 -
- Reference - English sakuradamon-


. Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets .

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kasugai clamp cleat

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kasugai 鎹 / かすがい clamp, cramp, cleat, staple

. Japanese Architecture 日本建築 technical terms .
- Introduction　-




. My collection in facebook .


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- quote
kasugai　- cleat
A strip of metal or wood driven into two members to hold them together securely. A metal cleat that is bent at each end has sharp points.


a) watari　渡り　b) tsume　爪

Each end of the cleat is pounded into one part of the two members to be joined. The bent parts, that function like nails, are called tsume 爪 and the center is called watari 渡り meaning cross over.
- source : JAANUS

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- from our kasugai discussion on facebook -

forged iron staple for a blacksmith

"cramp" in carpentry
and joinery usually refers to a mechanical "clamp" used to hold parts of an assemblage together while they are in process of construction.

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Children are Staples (ko wa kasugai)
There is a Japanese saying to the effect that "Children are Staples," ("ko wa kasugai" 子はカスガイ・鎹）.


In Japanese culture, the love between men and women is seen as being beautiful and natural, but like most things in nature, not particularly permanent. Love, between women and men does not last forever. There is no bridge across forever, no soulmate, no happy end. Japanese love stories tend, or tended, to end in double suicide: the most romantic outcome that one can hope for, at least far more so than domestic bliss.

The love or at least the relationship between parents and children, between ancestors and their descendants is however seen as being eternal. Parents and offspring are considered to be indivisible. No one is born again. This goes for the relationship between children and both mothers and fathers.

So when a couple have a child, while their own emotions for each other may wax and wane, they will be irretrievable linked forever in the flesh of their flesh, their child.

Hence, just as a staple can be used to join two pieces of wood together, so a children are considered to be like staples that join their parents together forever.


Related there are :
Children are the shackles of this world and the next
ko wa sankai no kubikase 子は三界の首枷
which refers to pretty much the same thing.
- source : ww.burogu.com/2010


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かすがい【鎹】
① -- 二本の材木をつなぎとめるための両端の曲がった大釘。

② -- 二つのものをつなぎとめる役をするもの。 「子は－」

③ -- 戸締まりに用いる金具。かけがね。 「 －もとざしもあらばこそ／催馬楽」
- source : 世界大百科事典

1 - a metal clamp to hold wood together
2 - to hold something together, a bond (e.g. a child)
3 - kakegane, a kind of metal door lock

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かすがい clamp cramp
丸鋼、角形鋼、平鋼などの鉄棒の両端を折り曲げ、先端を爪(つめ)状にとがらせた建築金物で、二つの部材をつなぎ合わせるために金槌(かなづち)などで打ち込む。丸かすがい、角かすがい、平かすがいの名称がある。折り曲げた部分を爪、中央部を渡りといい、木材や石材を相互に緊結させるために用いる。建具や家具に使用する長さ3センチメートル程度のものから、建物の軸組を緊結する長さ18センチメートル程度のものまで各種あり、さらに、先端の爪が互いに直角になるような手違いかすがい、一方を短冊状にしてこれに釘(くぎ)穴をつけた目かすがいがある。前者は桁(けた)と垂木(たるき)に、後者は縁甲板と根太(ねだ)の取り付けなどに用いる。また両爪の長いものは輪かすがいといわれ、形状、名称など使用場所によっても異なる。古くは加須可比とも書き、建具などをつなぎ止めるために用いられた金物で、掛金、繋金(かきがね)を意味した。
「子は（夫妻の）かすがい」なども、つなぎ止める意味からのことばといえる。
［坂田種男］
- source : 日本大百科全書

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Kasugai shi 春日井市 Kasugai town
is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, north of the Nagoya metropolis..

As of February 2012, the city has an estimated population of 306,573 and a population density of 3,310 persons per km². The total area is 92.71 km².
Former Nagoya Airport, is located between Kasugai and neighboring Komaki.
- - History
During the Meiji period, the area was organized into villages under Higashikasugai District, with the town of Kachigawa established on July 25, 1900. On June 1, 1943, Kachigawa was merged with neighboring villages of Toriimatsu and Shinogi to form the city of Kasugai. In 1958, Kasugai annexed the neighboring towns of Sakashita and Kozoji. Kasugai gained Special city status on April 1, 2001.
- source : wikipedia


- - - - - The mascots of Kasugai
Haruyo - Nichimaru and Inosuke



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Kasugai town, Sumirezuka in Autumn


When walking up the path from the garden of Utsutsu Shrine to "Sumirezuka", you will see an array of stone monuments.
These monuments carry "Haiku" poems dedicated to Matsuo Basho an ancient "Haiku"poet.

- - - - - -more interesting English links to Kasugai Town
Kasugai City Tofu Memorial Museum - Ono no Tōfū 小野道風 (894-966)
Festivals . . . etc
- source : www.city.kasugai.lg.jp


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Kasugai Snack Foods 春日井 製菓 Kasugai Seika
a Japanese snack company that exports to the United States and United Kingdom. It mainly exports candy, but also Japanese snacks.


The company was founded in 1923 by Rai Winsuto in Kasugai, Aichi. It began as a small shop selling dried snacks such as nuts, peas, and fruit. However, since then they have become a company that produces many different snack products that they export to other countries.
- source : wikipedia


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あばらやの戸のかすがいよなめくじり
abaraya no to no kasugai yo namekujiri

the clamp on the door
of my tumbledown home -
a slug

. Nozawa Boncho 野沢凡兆 . (1640 - 1714)




. namekujiri なめくじり slug .
namekuji 蛞蝓 (なめくじ) slug / namekujira なめくじら
- - kigo for all summer -


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日の盛鎹打たる仁王の脛
hi no sakari kasugai uchitaru nioo no sune

the sun at its best -
hitting a clamp
in the shin of Nio

Takazawa Ryooichi 高澤良一 Takazawa Ryoichi




. Nioo 仁王 Nio, Deva Kings .



. hizakari 日盛 (ひざかり) "the sun at its best" .
..... hi no sakari 日の盛（ひのさかり
the strong heat of the day
- - kigo for late summer - -

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白玉や鎹の子も十七に
shiratama ya kasugai no ko mo juushichi ni

white dumplings -
our child, our bond
now already seventeen
Tr. Gabi Greve

Suzuku Shigeo 鈴木しげを

. shiratama 白玉 (しらたま) Shiratama Dango .
"white treasure, white pearls"
- - kigo for all summer - -


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Kitamaebune ships

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Kitamaebune 北前船 North-bound trade ships
“Kitame-bune” “Kitamae-bune”

Matsumaebune 松前船 Matsumae trade ships to Hokkaido


source :　tsclip.net/ship



- quote
The Kitamaebune (北前船 literally northern-bound ship)
was a shipping route (and also the ships involved) in Japan from the Edo to the Meiji periods. The route went from Osaka through the Seto Inland Sea and the Kanmon Straits to ports in Hokuriku on the Sea of Japan and later to Hokkaidō.

The Kaga Domain, which sold approximately 70,000 koku of rice every year in Osaka, succeeded in sending 100 koku by boat through this route in 1639. The Tokugawa Shogunate also received rice from Dewa Province through merchant Kawamura Zuiken in 1672, but it is thought to be a response from these ships. Japanese ships at the time normally could only make one trip per year, but with the arrival of Western schooners in the Meiji Period, ships were able to make up to four trips annually.


A house of kitamaebune sailors, now a museum in Kaga, Ishikawa.

However, the Meiji Restoration also brought the end of the feudal system and the introduction of the telegraph, getting rid of gaps between regional markets and making it difficult for the shipping routes to make large profits. The national construction of railroads further led to the end of the Kitamaebune.

Currently, the Shin-Nihonkai Ferry is sometimes called the modern Kitamaebune, with stops along the old route at Maizuru, Niigata, Akita, Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, and Otaru.
- source : wikipedia



CLICK for more photos !



Kitamaebune Ship Museum
I-Otsu 1-1 Hashitate-machi, Kaga town

- quote
The Kitamaebune is a shipping route mainly through the Sea of Japan from late Edo Period to the Meiji Period. The ships spent a year to sail a round-trip between Osaka and Hokkaido and transported a great amount of fortune and culture. The facility itself was built by a former owner of a Kitamaebune Ship named Chohei Sakatani in 1878 (Meiji 11), and is registered as one of the national tangible cultural assets.
The beams and pillars inside the Museum were constructed with expensive materials transported from different regions, and with many layers of lacquer painted on them, these beams and pillars still have the lust and shine even after 120 years.



Inside the Museum, there are various exhibitions on everything about the Kitamaebune Ships including navigating tools, ship cabinets, a 20:1 model and other information on the lives as a sailor on the Ships.
- source : www.hot-ishikawa.jp


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. Matsumae in Hokkaido 松前 .
Matsumae, one of the oldest port towns in Hokkaido, used to be busy during the summer months in the Edo period for fishing.
The name Matsumae at that time was almost identical with the old name of Ezo / Hokkaido.


The Matsumae clan (松前藩, Matsumae-han)
was a Japanese clan which was granted the area around Matsumae, Hokkaidō as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension all of Japan, from the Ainu 'barbarians' to the north.



. Matsumaebune 松前船 Matsumae trade ships .
and the temple Tamonin 多聞院 Tamon-In in Akita
The sailors from the Matsumaebune 松前船 trade ships from Hokkaido to Osaka passed here. The sailors of the famous ship 辰悦丸 Shinetsu Maru owned by Takadaya Kahei came here to pray for safety on the sea.



. Takadaya Kahei 高田屋嘉兵衛 (1769 - 1827) .
In 1795, he constructed a ship named Shinetsu-maru with a displacement of 417 tons in Dewa (Yamagata and Akita Prefectures) and captained it. The following year he opened trading stores with the name of Takadaya in Hyogotsu and Hakodate, and started selling goods he transported between Ezo and the Osaka area.



. Engakuji 円覚寺 / 圓覚寺 Engaku-Ji .
西津軽郡深浦町深浦字浜町２７５ / Hamamachi-275 Fukaura, Fukaura-machi, Nishitsugaru-gun

During the Edo period, sailors on the Northern-bound trade ships (Kitamaebune 北前舟) came here to pray for safety on sea.




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船絵馬栄宝丸（瀬越白山神社奉納）

CLICK for more ema　絵馬　 votive tablets with Kitamaebune in temples and shrines along the road.

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oboro konbu おぼろ昆布
shredded konbu kelp seaweed


High-quality konbu are softened in vinegar and then shredded into very thin pieces.
They can be eaten in sumashi soup or used for aemono dressing, placed into onigiri rice balls or eaten like this with a bit of additional flavored vinegar or sanbaizu vinegar.

Most oboro come from Tsuruga 敦賀, Fukui. There was even an old road connectiong Tsuruga with Kyoto to transport the freshly shredded oboro konbu (oboro kaidoo おぼろ街道).
The oboro must be shredded by hand, which is quite a delicate job.
Tesuki Oboro Konbu (hand-sliced tangle seaweed) is produced after dampening it with vinegar and soften it.Today, 85% of the Japanese hand-sliced silk-like tangle kombu is produced in Tsuruga.
This tradition dates back to the Kitamaebune ships, which brought dried konbu from Hokkaido.
http://www.fukui-c.ed.jp/~cdb/shoku/konbu/index.html

. WASHOKU - denbu 田麩 and oboro shredded fish .
For food, we have oboro of fish, oboro of konbu seaweed, oborodoofu of tofu and others.

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Tsuruga 敦賀, a traditional harbour where the ships from Hokkaido (Kitamaebune 北前船) used to stop over and unload things, mostly marine products, that were transported to Kyoto by land via the Shiotsu Kaido 塩津街道 along the lake Biwako, linking to Kohoku Shiotsu in Omi. (Kohoku is Northern Shiga region.)
Tsuruga was also the endpoint of the road Tango Kaidoo 丹後街道 Tango Kaido.

. WASHOKU - Food from Fukui .

. Shiotsu Kaido 塩津街道 Shiotsu Highway / 塩津海道 Shiotsu Sea Road .


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source :　www.mugajin.jp

北前船～寄港地と交易の物語
加藤貞仁




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- quote
Back in Edo era not only “Kitamae-bune” route but also other sea routes flourished.
snip
Japanese traditional ships such as “Kitamae-bune” had some different points than western-styled ships.
Japanese ships didn’t have their keels, that western ships had.
Ships without keels were relatively weak, and they easily got broken when they were confronted with strong waves.
Another different point was that Japanese ships had only one mast per a body. Western ships usually had two or three masts per a body, that enabled ships to raise many sails upon the bodies and take advantage of the power of winds efficiently. On the other hand a Japanese traditional ship raised only one large sail with one high mast in order to let it go as rapidly as possible. But that lost a Japanese ship’s balance and made it vulnerable to heavy winds
and waves.
All in all, Japanese traditional ships had a higher risk to be wrecked or capsized than western ones.

Why had Japanese traditional ships kept such disadvantages?
Because Tokugawa Shogunate didn’t permit building any advanced ships and kept them old-fashioned and unable to sail a big travel.
Edo government closed Japan’s borders and prohibited any immigrations and emigrations across the sea.
So they banned residents to build any ships that could sail over the oceans.
As a result Japanese traditional ships lacked a structure for long travels – strength and stability of their bodies to defy wild waves in oceans.
Against such disadvantages and risks, though, Japanese sailors carried a vast amount of loads across Japan to meet an increasing demand of Japanese economy.

“Kitamae-bune” carried various kinds of loads from contemporary Hokkaido and Aomori prefecture , via many ports along Sea of Japan, to Osaka.
Osaka in Edo era was the largest market for trading goods made in all places of Japan.
Products from rice crops to salt and dried seafood were transported into Osaka, wholesaled there and distributed to all over Japan.
And the Kinki region (近畿地方) including Osaka was once the most advanced manufacturing center in Edo Japan.
Industry such as brewery, oil processing, and shipbuilding were conspicuous in Kinki region.
Producers along Sea of Japan sent their goods to Osaka to sell them, and bought processed goods from Kinki region. To link them “Kitamae-bune” took their voyages and carried goods frequently.

One example of traded goods carried by “Kitamae-bune” is “kombu (昆布)”, a species of a long kelp.
- source : Oda Mitsuo/ YouAT - 2012


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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -



北前船　島の歴史を　満載し
kitamaebune shima no rekishi o mansai shi

Kitamae sailboat -
it carries the history
of this island
Tr. Gabi Greve

- batabata nikki - iori ばたばた日記


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尼も乗る松前船の南風かな
ama mo noru kitamaebune no minami kana

South Wind
for the Matsumae Sailboat
with a nun on board . . .

. 飯田蛇笏 Iida Dakotsu .

- the cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3 - -


. south wind (nanpuu, minami 南風) .
- - kigo for all summer - -


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- detail with sailors


source :　www.artisticnippon.com


. Kutaniyaki 九谷焼 Kutani Pottery　 .


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. Ezo, Emishi 蝦夷　エゾ　Ainu Culture アイヌの文化 .

. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .


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Issa - kasen 1827

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .




. WKD : New Year (shin-nen, shinnen 新年) .

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The beginning of a kasen renku written on lunar New Year's Day in 1827:

1
New Year's Day --
we, too, bloom in our
blossoming world

元日や我等ぐるめに花の娑婆
ganjitsu ya warera-gurume ni hana no shaba - Issa


2
this our guest book
for all three to sign

sannin-mae o tsukeru reichou - Baijin


3
an east wind
cools the hot sake
perfectly

sake samasu kagen-gokochi ni kochi fuite - Ranchou


4
sideways I swing up
onto the horse

hirari to uma ni yokozama ni noru - Issa


These are the the first four verses of a 36-verse kasen renku written by Issa, his follower Baijin, and Baijin's father Ranchou, also a haikai poet. Issa was staying with them in Nakano, a few miles from his hometown, at lunar New Year's in 1827 -- what turned out to be the last lunar year of Issa's life. Baijin, head of a firm that produced soy sauce and soybean paste, was one of Issa's closest followers in his final years and helped publish a collection of his hokku after his death.

As the visitor, Issa writes the hokku. In it he expresses his warm, ebullient regards and his deep friendship with Baijin. He mentions blossoms, and since this is New Year's, before the cherries have begun to bloom, he must be referring to the friendship and love of haikai that is blossoming and bringing all three people together. And Issa goes farther. He feels they are also part of the larger wave of blossoming humanity that is now enjoying New Year's celebrations and good feelings across the land or perhaps all over the world. Issa writes "blossoming world," but the world (shaba) here refers mainly to the world of humans, to society or humanity.

The word shaba began as a Buddhist term for the samsaric world of imperfect and delusion-filled human life as opposed to other modes of existence, such as animals, fierce shura demons, or hungry ghosts. It is the world into which Buddhas and bodhisattvas are born and teach and the world in which human beings are able to achieve enlightenment and freedom from suffering. Gradually the word also became an ordinary secular Japanese word meaning this world, the human world, the everyday world, this life, human relations, society, the material world, and it came to resemble the phrase "floating world," which had both positive and negative meanings. When Issa writes about suffering in the human world he often uses ku no shaba, the world of suffering, and when he wants to praise the world, he uses a phrase like the blossoming world, as he does here.

Issa's reference in the hokku to the world being filled with blossoming people at New Year's is an expression of praise for his hosts and for all the people in the human world who are trying to find happiness at New Year's. It is not related, however, to the separate concept of the "degenerate latter days of the Dharma" (masse, mappou). This was a belief that became widespread in the medieval period in Japan according to which Buddhism had entered its third and most degenerate age after beginning with the appearance of Buddha in the Age of Correct Dharma, followed by the Age of Semblance Dharma. In the contemporary degenerate age, it was believed, monks and ordinary people were too weak and confused to be able to follow Buddha's original teachings, and society had become thoroughly corrupt. Honen and Shinran, who founded the two main schools of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, used the doctrine of the age of degenerate Dharma above all as justification for founding their new schools.

The high-ranking clerics of the older Tendai school declared chanting the Buddha's name to be a heresy and exiled both of them, so Honen and Shinran needed the degenerate age doctrine in order to establish their new, simpler schools of Buddhism for ordinary commoners. According to their argument, ordinary humans, including farmers and fishers, were too weak to understand sutras and to do difficult meditation or rituals, and therefore deep, sincere belief in Amida Buddha, the chanting of Buddha's name, and the simplification of Buddhism itself were all necessary in order to give ordinary people access to salvation. Shinran even allowed priests to marry and declared chanting Amida Buddha's name was not necessary but only an expression of thanks. Issa's age was more peaceful and more world-affirming than was Shinran's, and the degenerate age doctrine was mainly quoted not to condemn the contemporary world but to state the basic reason why the Pure Land schools were necessary. Issa's hokku, however, does not refer to degeneration but to the ordinary concept of the impure samsaric human world in general, a world that was believed, following Book 16 of the Lotus Sutra, to be non-separate from and thus overlapped with the Pure Land. Issa seems to imply that at New Year's people's hearts and minds blossom in a way that is reminiscent of Amida Buddha's love, and the world may thus suggest the temporary blossoming of the Pure Land itself in this world.

In verse 2, the wakiku, Baijin responds to Issa's friendly praise and says that all three members writing the renku have signed the visitor's book -- the book of the world. New Year's Day was a busy day, and people went around to other people's homes for brief visits during which they offered their best regards to their friends, relatives, and neighbors and signed the visitor's book at each house they visited. In Baijin's version, the three poets give their best regards not only to each other but to the whole world and to everyone alive. In the verse the visitor's book seems to be the thick paper on which the kasen is being written, which the poets sign (tsukeru) by linking (tsukeru) verses.

In verse 3, the daisan, Ranchou evokes sake drunk to greet a visitor to his house. The sake has been heated and is still too hot to drink, but a fresh spring breeze from the east blows on the sake and cols it until the people are able to toast each other. The verse says that it seems as if the breeze has kindly blown into the house in order to cool the sake for the humans.

In verse 4, the yonku-me, Issa seems to be making a scent link. The sake has been drunk in order to say farewell to someone. After exchanging cups of warm sake, the traveler seems to put one foot in a stirrup and then swings his body upward and sideways over the horse in order to sit on it. His swinging motion is very light, according to the language used, so perhaps, helped by the sake, he feels as if the wind is helping him up onto the horse. From this upward swinging motion begin all the wide-ranging images that fill the kasen, which Issa literally imagines as a journey. It seems possible that Issa's image of leaping sideways up onto a horse is a reference to one of Shinran's most important teachings called ouchou 横超, to pass or cross over sideways -- what The Collected Works of Shinran calls "to transcend crosswise." Simply put, this means that it is possible for some believers, if their trust in and reliance on Amida is total and complete, to rapidly pass over all minor stages and enter directly into the Pure Land with Amida's help. Is the rider in verse 4 setting out for the Pure Land? If so, then the renku paper itself is a sudden opening onto the Pure Land that keeps blossoming with each new verse. There are no commentaries on this kasen, however, and this remains just an hypothesis.

Chris Drake


. shaba 娑婆 / しゃば / シャバ this world of Samsara .
more haiku by Issa on this subject

Shaba and Jodo 娑婆と浄土　the Defiled World and the Pure Land
samsara - the cycle of suffering in this world

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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction .


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zashiki guest room

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zashiki 座敷 guest room, drawing room, sitting room

. Interior Design - The Japanese Home .
- Introduction -


- quote
A generic term for a room covered with straw mats *tatami 畳.

In the Heian period when aristocratic dwellings *shinden-zukuri 寝殿造, were floored with wooden planks, woven straw or rush mats, some with bound edging, and thick mats agedatami 上畳 that raised the person a little above floor level were used for seating.
Eventually, from the late 12c, the word zashiki applied to rooms completely covered with straw mats and was used for guests. Thus, it became a reception room or guest room. This custom was later emulated in the folk dwellings *minka 民家 of lower ranking people in the Edo period.


Nagatomi 永富 house (Hyogo)

Both sukiya 数寄屋 and *shoin 書院, later came to use not only tatami but also incorporated alcoves (both *tokonoma 床の間 and *wakidana 脇棚) in the zashiki.

. sukiya 数寄屋 room for the tea ceremony .


- - - - - okuzashiki　奥座敷



1　
A general term for the final or innermost room of a *shoin 書院 style reception suite.

2　
In vernacular houses *minka 民家 of the Edo period in parts of Touhoku 東北 and the Kantou 関東, Toyama, Ishikawa, and Kagawa prefectures, and Kyoto district, the room furthest from the earthfloored area *doma 土間 in the rear part of a *hirairi 平入, house. It was a formal reception room equipped with a decorative alcove *tokonoma 床の間. Alternatively called *oku 奥, oku-no-ma 奥の間, oku-no-dei 奥の出居.

3　
In vernacular townhouses *machiya 町家 of the Edo period in Kyoto and Nara, a room at the rear of the house overlooking the garden. Equipped with a tokonoma, it served as a formal reception room and often as a sleeping room shinshitsu 寝室 for elderly dependents. Also called *oku 奥.

4　
A formal reception room to the rear of the shop, *mise 店 in machiya in the vincinity of Kanazawa 金沢 in Ishikawa prefecture..


- - - - - kura zashiki 蔵座敷 living room in a storehouse
Also *zashikigura 座敷蔵.
A fireproof structure *dozou-zukuri 土蔵造 used as a reception suite *zashiki 座敷. The roof is tiled *kawarabuki 瓦葺, or boarded *itabuki 板葺.
Where the kurazashiki is attached to or incorporated into the core area of a house, it is called uchigura zashiki 内蔵座敷. Usually two storeys high, the lower floor is always used as a reception room, whilst the upper floor is either a storeroom or a second reception room.



The most luxurious kurazashiki reception rooms were fitted with a decorative alcove *tokonoma 床の間, staggered shelves *chigaidana 違い棚, and a built-in table tsukeshoin 付書院, and other decorative features. The kurazashiki was used for important ceremonies such as weddings, as well as to accommodate guests. First seen in town houses in the Kansai 関西 region, the kurazashiki spread to Edo.
Today, the largest numbers of surviving examples can be seen in Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures. Also used as high-class guest house accommodation.
- source : JAANUS

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. Zashiki Hakkei 座敷八景 Eight Parlor Views .
by Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信
and
more about the Hakkei 八景 Eight Views of Edo

under construction
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karakuri ningyō (からくり人形)  mechanized puppets

zashiki karakuri (座敷からくり, tatami room karakuri) were small and used in homes.

They influenced the Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku theatre.

zashiki karakuri

The most common example today of a zashiki karakuri mechanism is a tea-serving robot, which starts moving forward when a cup of tea is placed on the plate in its hands. It was used in a situation when a host wanted to treat a guest in a recreational way at a tea ceremony. It moves in a straight line for a set distance, moving its feet as if walking, and then bows its head.
This signals that the tea is for drinking, and the doll stops when the cup is removed.
When it is replaced, the robot raises its head, turns around and returns to where it came from. It is typically powered by a wound spring made of whalebone, and the actions are controlled by a set of cams and levers.
source : Wikipedia


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zashiki warashi 座敷童子 / ざしきわらし　girl spooks
in Iwate, Tono, Tohoku / 岩手県に伝えられる精霊的な存在


CLICK for more photos !

- quote
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Tono Monogatari

Zashiki warashi are a yokai from the Tohoku region of Japan. They live in the rafters of ceilings or in old storehouses. One of the mysteries of zashiki warashi is that they always take the appearance of small children, and never of adults.

In Iwate prefecture, zashiki warashi are said to appear in many of the local Elementary schools, and play with the children. At nine o’ clock, dressed in a white kimono, the zashiki warashi slip through cracks in the door and play around between the desks and chairs, having a great time. Of course, only the children can see the zashiki warashi as they romp around the classroom.

Also, about a hundred years ago in Tokyo, zashiki warashi were said to live in the storehouse of a man named Umehara Sotoku. Whenever any human went into the storehouse they would suddenly be overcome by the need to urinate and would have to flee running from the storehouse. It was said that this was due to the presence of the zashiki warashi. Also, sometimes at night the sound of something striking a metal pole could be heard.

One year, there was a fire near that house and the flames rapidly spread. The family was busy bringing the furniture out of the house when a child that no one knew was seen running out of the storehouse and helped carry the furniture into the cellar for safekeeping. Even though they tried, no one got a good look at his face. When all of the goods and people were safely in the cellar, the door was shut tight but the small boy was no were to be seen.

That old storehouse was nothing special, the kind that could be found anywhere. But high up on the shelf that was used to store charcoal there was a box about 15 by 16 centimeters that no one ever touched. Most likely that was the home of the zashiki warashi.

The old storehouse did eventually burn down in a fire in the middle of the Meiji period, and from then on the zashiki warashi was never seen or heard from again. I wonder where it went?



There is what is called the Three Great Stories of Tono. Of these, the legend of the zashiki-warashi is by far the most famous. Let’s touch on these legends a bit.

Zashiki-warashi (“zashiki” meaning the tatami room of traditional Japanese houses, and “warashi” meaning a kid or small child) are often seen as a kind of omen in the houses of once-great families on the verge of decline. The disappearance of the zashiki-warashi from the house was a sign that the family’s fortunes had waned. Looking into this, you can find many families who have used zashiki-warashi to account for the withering away of their wealth and status. The disappearance of zashiki-warashi was also an easy way to explain away a neighbor’s misfortunes to children who were too young to understand. Many a parent has relied on this convenient excuse to circumvent uncomfortable questions.

But there are other thoughts on the zashiki-warashi. In the 42nd year of Meiji, Yanagita wrote in his diary that on the journey from Hanamaki to Tono he saw only three places that showed any sign of human habitation. On these rough plateaus between the surrounding mountains it was said there were a hardscrabble people making their living off the land called Yamabito. These people of the mountains were said to be of substantial build and were described as having eyes differently colored from normal Japanese. The villages of the Tono area were terrified of Yamabito, who were said to sometimes raid the villages and either ravage or kidnap the local women. Due to this fear of outsiders, as well as due to the special geographical features of the mountain basin in which they lived, the people of Tono were solitary and exclusionary. Their houses held many secrets.

Old families of rank and reputation sometimes found their daughters ravaged and impregnated by these Yamabito attacks, and any child born of such a union was hidden away in the depths of the family mansion and never allowed to see the daylight. Other families of lesser fortunes sometimes gave birth to more children than they could afford, so it was said that some children were culled, their bodies buried under the dirt floors or under the kitchen instead of a proper grave. An eyewitness to both of these ancient customs sites these practices as the origin of the zashiki-warashi legends.

There are of course other origins that have nothing to do with bad parents hiding or killing their own children. Some say that zashiki-warashi are merely spirits of the house, no different than any other kami.

Regardless of their origins, they are a vivid and ancient legend. One official account, published in 1910 (the 43rd year of Meiji), tells of an elementary school in Tsuchibuchi where a first grade student claimed to see a zashiki-warashi right in front of him, although his teachers and classmates were unable to see the spirit
- source : hyakumonogatari.com


. Tōno monogatari 遠野物語 Tono Monogatari .
Legends of Tono


. makuragaeshi 枕返し pillow flipper and Zashiki Warashi legends .


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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

. WKD - kigo for all summer .

sitting room in summer, parlor in summer
natsu zashiki 夏座敷



Zashiki 座敷, a room covered with tatami straw mats and a decoration alcove (tokonoma　床の間), used to entertain visitors, a kind of reception room.
Ths SUMMER sitting room is the same room as used in winter when entertaining visitors during the day. But with the summer decoration of bamboo blinds and light seating mats, the summer preparations would make you feel cool in summer. The doors could be kept open to let the fresh air from the garden into the room.
This is of course talking about the Edo period, without air conditioning or electric fans to bring some refreshment.
A wind chime hung in the eves would also enhance the feeling of coolness.
elegant blinds for the living room, ozashiki sudare 御座敷すだれ

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. WKD - kigo for all winter .

sitting room in winter, fuyu zashiki 冬座敷




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- - - - - oku zashiki, okuzashiki　奥座敷
oku no ma, okunoma 奥の間 "room in the back"

はつ雪や医師に酒出す奥座敷
hatsu yuki ya isha ni sake dasu okuzashiki

first snow !
we serve sake to the doctor
in the innermost room

. Tan Taigi 炭太祇 .
(1709 -1771 or ?1738-1791)


- - - and there it is ! a sake 酒 rice wine called Okuzashiki


- source : sakesakesakesakesake.blogspot.jp

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山茶花や青空見ゆる奥座敷
sazanka ya aozora miyuru okuzashiki

winter camellia -
from the reception room in the back
I look at the blue sky

Oomine Akira 大峯あきら Omine Akira




. sasanka 山茶花 Camellia Sasanqua .
- - kigo for Winter - -


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- - - - - kura zashiki, kurazashiki 蔵座敷 living room in a storehouse



source :　www.jin.ne.jp/araebisu

蔵座敷五尺時計の音涼し
kurazashiki goshakudikei no oto suzushi

our storehouse living room -
the sound of the large clock
is so cool

Hakutaku Yoshiko 白澤よし子

go shaku 五尺 is about 150 cm.


. tokei 時計 clock .

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source :　www.tif.ne.jp/jp/ati

喜多方や旅の朝寝の蔵座敷
Kitakata ya tabi no asane no kurazashiki

Kitakata -
sleeping late on a trip
in a storehouse guest room

Hasegawa Teruko 長谷川耿子

Kitakata is a town in Fukushima, famous for its many kura.
. kura 蔵 storehouse, warehouse .


also famous for its good ramen soup.
. Kitakata Ramen 喜多方ラーメン .

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獅子舞に戸をあけ放つ蔵座敷
shishimai ni to o akehanatsu kurazashiki

opening the door
of the storehouse living room
for the Lion Dancers

Yoshida Futaba 吉田二葉



- source and more photos : 得さんのページ

. shishimai,　 獅子舞 lion dance .
- - kigo for the New Year - -

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. Japanese Architecture - Interior Design - The Japanese Home .


. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .


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Edo Cherry Blossoms ISSA

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .


. WKD : Cherry Blossoms (sakura 桜) .

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江戸桜花も銭だけ光る哉
edo sakura hana mo zeni dake hikaru kana

Edo Cherries --
glittering coins outshine
their blossoms
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from the second month (March) in 1820, when Issa was in and around his hometown. "Edo Cherries" (edo-zakura) in the first line is one name for "Somei-Yoshino Cherries," a type of cherry tree artificially created by gardeners in Somei, a village on the edge of Edo, who crossed two traditional types of cherry trees. The Somei nurseries also produced other kinds of new flowers and trees and actively marketed them. Some of these creations became very popular with samurai lords, who generally had very large gardens, and with Edo's merchants, most of whom sought to imitate the warrior class. In Issa's time various nurseries competed to see which could create the most striking or unusual new varieties of flowers and trees. Flower contests became common in the city, and Issa has several hokku about the unnatural shapes of the artificially large and fancy chrysanthemums that became popular in Edo, where the flowers could be amazingly expensive.

Edo Cherries became a choice commodity not long before Issa was sent by his father to Edo to find a job, so he has no doubt seen them in bloom and has compared them with other, more traditional types, such as the wild mountain cherries growing in profusion at Mt. Yoshino. Edo Cherries have bowl-like blossoms that are a strong red at the center when they first bloom, though they gradually turn to a very light pink before they fall, and the blossoms grow fairly close together, covering the whole tree and giving it a rather ostentatious look that many Edoites preferred.

Issa, however, isn't overly impressed by either the blossoms or the tree. He says "even" (mo) the blossoms, so he may refer to the fact that the tree is mainly for show: only very sour cherries or no cherries at all grow on it. And he may feel the overall shape of the tree is a bit unbalanced, since the blossoms bloom before the leaves appear. The tree's main value is commercial, he feels, and in a narrow sense he seems to have been right, since this ornamental type of cherry became even more popular during the period when Japan was modernizing and today is regarded as "traditional," at least in urban areas. It is also popular around the world.

Chris Drake

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「江戸桜ルネッサンス＆夜桜うたげ」の魅力
Edo Sakura Renaissance

- source : /mery.jp/15729

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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction .


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